Council Chamber Turns To Madhouse

June 13, 1985|By James Strong and Manuel Galvan.

Even by Chicago City Council standards, Wednesday`s meeting was wild.

An Uptown community activist and supporter of Mayor Harold Washington leaped from the press section of the council chambers, shouting obscenities and rushing menacingly toward Ald. Edward Vrdolyak (10th), leader of the mayor`s opposition.

Vrdolyak was advocating a majority bloc proposal for the spending of community development money. He triggered the outburst from Walter ``Slim``

Coleman, an Uptown political organizer, when he accused the mayor, Coleman and city Budget Director Sharon Gist Gilliam of holding secret meetings last week with community organizations to plot moves to harass aldermen opposed to the mayor`s spending plan.

Throughout the meeting, an unruly gallery that packed the chambers to support the Washington administration on its proposed use of $126 million in community development block grant funds taunted the majority bloc members who narrowly passed the controversial ordinance.

Turning his attack on Coleman, editor of the All-Chicago City News community newspaper, Vrdolyak charged, ``The meeting was run by the funeral director of the Nazi Party, Slim Coleman.``

Coleman bolted from his chair in the press section, shouting obscenities, and leaped over the tabletop, challenging Vrdolyak to ``come on.``

After taking two menacing steps toward the alderman, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Coleman was restrained by Ald. Ed Smith (28th) and a bodyguard for Ald. Edward Burke (14th). Coleman was led from the chambers by Smith and police, still shouting obscenities and warning Vrdolyak, ``I`ll get you.``

Vrdolyak, pointing to Coleman as he was led from the chambers, shouted,

``That`s the man the mayor has running his meetings and that`s the type of government we have in Chicago.``

The remarks by Vrdolyak that set Coleman off referred to a funeral Coleman held for a former member of a white supremacist gang member.

The wake was held in Coleman`s Uptown People`s Community Center, 1222 W. Wilson Ave., for 20-year-old Kevin Zornes, who was slain March 11. Gang members reportedly attended the service.

After leaving the chambers, Coleman was arrested by John Davis, a Vrdolyak bodyguard and Chicago policeman, after city police assigned to the council refused.

Coleman was issued a summons for a charge of simple assault, a misdemeanor. But it was learned that Vrdolyak is contemplating seeking a warrant for Coleman`s arrest on felony charges under a new state law making it a crime to threaten public officials or their families.

Later, Coleman denied threatening Vrdolyak, saying, ``I called him a liar and I said `anytime.` ``

He said: ``Vrdolyak slandered that boy beyond the bounds of decency. He was killed because he left the gang. If we don`t stand up for kids who want to quit the gangs, what good are we in the community?``

Coleman, 41, president of the Heart of Uptown Coalition, a community activist group, charged that Vrdolyak shifted his attack to him to divert attention from the ``beating they were taking`` in the debate over spending of federal funds on programs and social service agencies for low- and moderate-income people.

It took five votes before the block grant fund ordinance was passed by a 26-21 vote.

(2d), among others, urged the mayor to veto the measure despite a threatened loss of the money if a compromise is not reached.

If an agreement is not in place by July 1, many social service agencies and organizations dependent on federal aid will face serious cash flow problems.

Pointing to the gallery, Ald. Roman Pucinski (41st) declared, ``You can hoot, you can shout, you can jeer and you can cheer, but the fact remains you are not going to change one vote here.``

The fight has centered on moves by the majority bloc initially to slash $14 million from mayoral priorities in the use of the federal funds for low-and moderate-income areas and agencies.

The majority bloc made compromise amendments at a Finance Committee meeting before the council session and restored about $1.6 million to the mayor`s programs; about $12.4 million for majority-bloc-favored programs and projects, including a ``lighted schoolhouse program`` to keep schools open after class hours, a new library in Uptown and model block programs; and $1.3 million for the repair of deteriorating Work Projects Administration streets built in the Depression.

Budget Director Gilliam insisted that those changes violate the federal guidelines that the funds be spent solely in low- and moderate-income areas defined by census tracts.